Trumpeting for tomorrow

The medium to long term future of our jumbo is bleak unless the National Action Plan for Human Elephant Conflict Mitigation (NAP) is immediately implemented, say conservationists who also call for legal reforms and a centralised coordination hub to help injured elephants.

- BY RANDIMA ATTYGALLE

"WHAT is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of the spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected" - the wisdom of the Chief Seattle reverberates more than ever before each time an elephant's life is claimed by a man in this land where the jumbo is not just a wild creature but a cultural icon. The pride of place occupied by the Lankan elephant and the tusker is such, that the native branch of medicine recognises a distinct school of physicians known as 'ali-wedun' (physicians of the elephants).

National Action Plan

The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List and the Asian elephant population has decreased by at least 50% over the past three generations, primarily due to habitat loss, degradation, fragmentation, and poaching. The Sri Lankan sub-species (Elephas maximus maximus) is facing the same issues faced by the Asian elephant.

The country has the highest density of Asian elephants in a limited land area with a very high density of human population compounded by unplanned development projects as well as illegal encroachment into elephant habitat. As a result, we have a higher rate of elephant deaths than in any other Asian elephant range state.

The medium to long term future of Lankan elephants is bleak unless the National Action Plan for Human Elephant Conflict Mitigation (NAP) is implemented, points out its Chair and the well-known Elephant Ethologist and the former DG of the Wildlife Conservation, Dr. Sumith Pilapitiya. The senior conservationist who has led major World Bank projects in South Asia, specialising in elephant conservation and human-elephant conflict (HEC) management, goes onto note that ad hoc political decisions taken by successive governments who are of the mistaken view that HEC has instant solutions, has been the main cause of increasing incidents of HEC in the country.